What makes ifttt so good at educating your dumb phone, however, is SMS messaging. Here are a few ways you can use it to your advantage from your dumb phone.

Post To Facebook and Twitter

Want to share your thoughts when you’re on the go? You’re not alone. Millions of smart-phone users constantly use their phone for just that.

You don’t need a smartphone to do this, though. Just send an SMS message to ifttt and you’re set.

The above command will post any SMS I sent to ifttt including the tag “#post” to Facebook. The tag is important, because it lets ifttt know what it is I want them to do with the information I’m texting them.

Confused? It’s simple. If I send a text message to ifttt including the word “#post” it will be posted to Facebook as my status.

Create tasks like this for both Twitter and Facebook, with the same tag, and voila: you can post to both of your social services with only one text. You’re phone’s getting smarter already!

Get Important Email from Gmail

Are there certain people you simply can’t afford to miss an email from, even when you’re on the go? You don’t need a smartphone for that: with ifttt you can get email from certain people sent directly to your dumb phone. I set up this to get every email from my wife Kathy:

You can see just the subject line of the email, or get the entire email. Be warned, though: getting the entire email can fill up your SMS inbox rather quickly.

The problem with this: any responses sent will go to your phone instead of to your email. Avoid this confusion using ifttt to send email from your dumb phone.

You’ll need to create commands for the people you want to be able to email, so it’s not entirely ideal. Again, you’ll need to be using Gmail.

Update Your Calendar

Want to update your calendar from your phone? Again, you’re covered. Just set up a rule like this:

With this you can SMS a simple appointment, using actual language. For example: write “meet Mark at his secret castle Thursday at noon #cal” and the appropriate appointment will be added to your calendar. Magic!

You Get The Idea

This article could go on forever. You can get text messages when something you want is for sale on Craigslist, for example, or get a message when the weather calls for snow tomorrow.

Justin Pot is a technology journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He loves technology, people and nature – and tries to enjoy all three whenever possible. You can chat with Justin on Twitter, right now.